From one '33 baby to another, Kees, I enjoyed your Memories.

James T. Rice (jimtrice@prodigy.net)
Thu, 16 Oct 1997 22:35:26 -0400 

Hello Kees,

        I just read your posting to Project Memories and enjoyed it much.  I
had first thought I'd reply to you personally, but then decided to make
it my first post to the Memories List.  I too am a '33 baby (7Feb33),
and remember the war but in the same way most American children of that
time do, i.e. minor inconveniences at worst.

        I remember my parents' anxiety over it all, especially when my older
brother (12 years older) went off to the war (he returned safely and I'm
trying to get him to share some of his Memories).  Also, my Dad was very
concerned about whether or not my younger brother and I would have
enough meat protein during our growing years.  Dad found a way to get
baby chickens (bitties, as we called them) in batches of 25.  I had to
feed and water the little devils and clean the muck (the British term
sounds better than our use of the older, more Germanic one) out of their
cages.  Then, they would go out into a fenced in area in the back yard
("garden" to the Brits), and, when they were about 6-8 weeks old, we ate
chicken.  I mean we ate chicken all day long.  Without refrigeration (we
only had ice boxes at that time), the meat had to be eaten immediately
after slaughter, and the chickens got too tough to eat after about 10
weeks.  I remember having fried chicken even for breakfast!

        About 20 years ago, my Mom (now deceased) sent me a Christmas package
of memorabilia.  She had been cleaning out the house after Dad died and
sent each of her children various things from the war years, and I am
the proud owner of a partially used meat ration coupon book and some
tokens we used for something, and I've forgotten what it was.

        Since my family never had a car, the inability to buy new one or get
gas, tires, etc. never really bothered us.  In fact, it made us quite
popular with our car owning relatives who benefited from our ration
coupons for automotive products.  Dad was a railroad trainman, and we
road the trains when we had to go out of town.  In town, we had street
cars and did a lot of walking.  My wife, and I were in England this past
summer and took a half dozen or so trips on the train, including one
where Tom Holloway hopped on with his bike and visited a while with us.
Riding the trains was like old times to me, except that I missed the
steam engines and had to get used to the shock when two trains passed
going in opposite directions, each at 120 miles per hour.

        One other thing I remember vividly was V-J Day, the day when the war
was really and totally over.  It's the only time in my life I've ever
seen an EXTRA edition of the newspaper.  It was very hurriedly done by
some process that procduce an awful looking grayish paper, but everyone
was happy anyway.

        One thing I would like to hear more on is the effect your wartime diet
had on the coronary and cardiac health of your older folks.  I've read
reports that you Netherlanders were never healthier that when the
Germans were taking all your meat and fats and leaving you nothing but
the vegetables.  I understand there are studies that show the adult
population in immediate postwar population as having almost no
atherosclerosis (clogging of the arteries with fatty deposits) but that
the arterial clogging began to return almost immediately after the war
and the return of availability of meat and fats.  Is that really true,
or is it vegetarian hype?
--
Regards, Jim Rice (jimtrice@prodigy.net)